subjects of death for chosen careers

IIRC both IT and RE are obligatory at GCSE. That's 2 wasted opportunities.

I have no o jection to the school requiring academic core subjects, say maths, English, a MFL, a science and a humanity, but if the school effectively selects two of the student's 'optionals', that severely restricts thestudents choices.

If, say, ds wantsto do mostly pure sciences, but is also interested in geography or art (perfectly likely as he is very interested in architecture) then he might have to choose whether to sacrifice a priority subject or a secondary subject in order to accommodate two subjects which are of no academic or career value or relevance.

I want to echo what previous posters have said, there is no need to do GCSE and/or A-Level accounting to become an accountant. Nor does anyone need a degree in accounting.

As long as a student has a 2:1 minimum in an academically strong degree, they would be eligible for most graduate accountant schemes.

I read Classics at university, yet moved on to a graduate acountant scheme.

I would advise A-Level Maths though.

DD1 did 2 IT GCSEs (both were all coursework and a complete waste of time) - they were compulsory so didn't affect her choices, and have made no difference to her uni offers (Maths).

I think so long as IT is an extra and not an actual choice, and that there are plenty of "proper" subjects in there, you won't be penalised.

PrettyCandles - yes, I'd agree it is a wasted GCSE if it's done at the expense of something more academic. If it's done in addition to a good Ebacc core then it won't do him any harm at all!

circular - in my own area, not having a degree was a rarity - and it was nigh on impossible to even get an interview without one. In fact, I don't even recall seeing a cv (and I saw hundreds!) of someone without one as the recruitment consultants didn't bother to pass them on to us.

I'm sure we lost vast amounts of talent because of it, but I guess you have to filter in some way.

I find this concerning because ds1 is likely to go to a secondary school that has specialist status in maths and IT. This means that all students have to take maths and IT at GCSE. Given the value expressed here of IT at GCSE, surely this is a wasted GCSE? Especially if a student has leanings towards IT!

Mrs Mipp

Environmental sector wants trad science, engineers and maths graduates still, some Environmental Science degrees are ok (but depends on the course) but not Env Sci A-levels (or GCSEs).

At one time for IT/Computing careers, Computer Science degrees were frowned upon. Churned out whizzkids that didn't understand a commercial environment.

Maths, sciences and business studies still preferred. Also good communication skills and common sense.

In all the years (20+) I have worked in IT, by far the best personnel have been those with NO degree. Not so many these days, as difficult if not impossible to get into without a degree.

A degree in computer science from a decent university is surely OK? Cambridge has offered one for decades.
Don't do business studies GCSE/A2 unless that is the highest level of education you are aiming for.

My sister's boyfriend finished his degree in computer science last year and walked straight into a job with a top city bank. He's just has his first bonus and it was huge! So computer science is a good degree I would've thought?

Anything computer'ish for GCSE or A'level (IT/Computer Studies) is a waste of time. If you want a serious IT career, you do need Maths and a solid science background. But I'd also say that a solid background including English, MFL/Latin and humanities are also essential. There are next to no computing jobs out there where you don't have to communicate with people - be it in writing, over the 'phone or in person.

Computer Science degrees from most RG uni's are useful, but some courses at some of the ex-poly's are shockingly bad. When I was helping with graduate recruitment, Computer Science and Electronic Engineering degrees (esp. with an industrial placement) were the top choices. Other engineering degrees were then considered, then Maths, Physics and Chemistry were further down the list.

Interestingly it's a field in which the class of degree and where you studied it are still important even after you have 20 years of experience...

I qualified as an accountant 13 years ago.
Accounting A level and GCSE had not been created then.
Accounting degrees were a sign of a very narrow mind
The Big 8 - as it was when I started training - wanted pure BSc subjects or MFL
anything with "studies" in the name is a no no

Economics - leave till degree
Any head shrink type 'ology' - best left to degree level

the traditional subjects teach you how to learn
and having done that you can go and be anything you like

To be a geologist, you don't need A level geology or geography, and are better off dedicating that time to Maths.

An accountancy degree will not hinder your chances of getting a job with a big 4 firm, and may actually give you exemption from some of the professional exams. However, we wouldn't favour an accountancy degree above any other 'respectable' degree (eg maths, engineering, history).

We would not look favourably upon gcse or a level accountancy though. Better to do academic subjects for the reasons stated above.

Although, to be honest, after ten years with a big 4 firm I would now say to any teenager considering this career: 'Don't do it, you only have one life and there are far more interesting things to do with it! The money tends to be good, but then you end up sticking withh it for just that reason. Run while you still can!'. But anyway, that's another topic

It seems to me the university jury is still out on whether A level Philosophy, psychology, or sociology are OK for those subjects at degree level, so you could get away with one of those at A level if your other A levels are traditional academic ones.

Whereas everyone seems to be in agreement that Law, IT, Social Care at school level are not good for university entrance requirements.

There are computer science degrees and computer science degrees. So you need to be careful. (Maths and Physics are always in demand by computer companies.)

i thought it was computer science that was the OK degree..no?

when my dad was recruited into IT, they wanted Classics degrees...but then computers still had valves

My dd will be gutted about the Forensic Science thing too! She will just have to do a traditional science degree instead!

If you want to do Forensic science, at least the Chemistry side, do make sure that any Chemistry degree involves Analytical Chemistry (a lot don't).
I told my son not to bother with ICT GCSE even though he is considering some kind of programming career, as MAths and Physics are more important to get onto a good Computer Science degree etc. ICT is a test of Word, Excel etc. and can you evaluate and argue why you did something.

BTW with MFL even UCL does have a route around it if you don't have the relevant qualification; but it will be additional work during the degree.

MrsGuy, I've met a lot of students who've been given terrible careers advice. I recently spoke to a year 11 boy who wants to study Law at Oxbridge; he'd been told to take Law, Government&Politics and Geography at A Level (Geography because he likes it). It's a terrible set of A Levels to take for Law, I had a tough time trying to convince him though, and in the end should him a list from a Cambridge college ranking A Levels, he was horrified, the poor thing.

It seems to be increasingly common.

I teach Latin part time at a local secondary and have had lots of students (including those who don't study Latin) ask me about A Level choices. I was a bit worried about advising (I'm not a careers advisor) so asked the HoY for Yr 11, who said I knew better than any of them and should help them I don't particularly want to, it's a lot of responsibility, OTOH they're getting bad advice elsewhere.

Sorry to ramble, it's a bugbear of mine.

Don't do health and social care if you want to do medicine/nursing.

DD is taking A level modules at the moment, and has applied to UCAS. She has had three offers, all at the top end of what she might achieve.

She took PE, Business Studies, Biology and Maths at AS, really struggled with Maths and Biology, and dropped Maths to continue to A2.

The offers that she has had would accept any A level to make up the points, but she did two 'sensible' ones, because we all thought that would be a 'good thing'.

Obviously she won't be taking a highly academic course at Uni, but one that appeals to her, and she's done well to get the offers. But if she'd taken less academic subjects at A2, it would not have been detrimental.

Just thought this experience might help someone currently deciding - dd's life could have been a lot less stressful than at present.